Rides top draw for brothers

Elighio Rodriquez, left, and his brother Joshua Willmot look up from their seats Thursday atop the ferris wheel at the Curry County Fair. (Staff photo: Eric Kluth)

Editor’s note: The Clovis News Journal gave Joshua Willmot, 9, of Clovis, $80 to spend at the Curry County Fair. He took his brother, Elighio Rodriquez, 7, and his mother, Tanya.

The following is the boys’ report as told to CNJ staff writer Jesse Wolfersberger.

Joshua and Elighio spent most of their time and energy Thursday on the midway rides. They did find time to eat cotton candy, play carnival games and visit livestock exhibits and the petting zoo before a torrential downpour washed out the rest of their night at the fair.

“First we got the tickets,” Elighio said. “Then we went to the haunted mansion. It was cool because there was lots of spooky stuff and noises They were like laughing noises and screaming noises.”

The first ride the boys went on was “The Tornado.”

“There is this thing in the middle that you spin and it makes you go really fast,” said Elighio, making sure to add, “I didn’t get sick though.”

“The next one was ‘The Orbiter,’” Joshua said.

The ride went so fast the boys said they had to hold onto the side. “You almost started to cry,” Joshua said, pointing to his little brother. “I wasn’t scared, you were,” Elighio said, pointing back.

The boys were impressed with the size of the Ferris wheel. “Whoa,” Elighio said. “It was bigger than this (newspaper) building.” Although it wasn’t as fast as the other rides, the boys liked that they could see the whole fair.

Their next stop was the pig race. Young pigs with colorful clothes raced while the boys cheered on their favorite.
The boys also had fun at the game booths.

“There was one with baseballs,” Joshua said. “You have to throw it and bust a bottle. I didn’t bust it.”

“There was one where you would swing a ball at some cans and try to knock them over,” Elighio said. “I hit one.”

At the petting zoo, a huge turtle was the main event.

“It was this big,” Joshua said, holding his arms out as wide as he could. “We also got to pet camels, a zebra and a little piggy.”

The day was cut short by rough weather.

“It started raining pretty hard,” Elighio said. “But we still had fun.”

The best part of the day for Joshua were the fast rides. “I liked ‘The Tornado.’ It was the funnest ride.”

Elighio liked the slower pace of the Ferris wheel. “It was the best because you got to go up and down lots of times,” he said.